Mr. Robert McDonald:

Unlike the Kilkenny Arts Festival, Galway International Arts Festival and Listowel Writers' Week, Tyrone Guthrie Centre does not have a public facing dimension. The centre is a retreat in the sense that artists come to it to create work. A lot of this work is showcased at festivals. Every week we receive books in the post and letters from people thanking us for the time they spent at Annaghmakerrig to complete or edit a book of poetry or a new novel. We also receive numerous invitations to exhibitions throughout the country from artists who have spent time at the centre. In terms of what we do, people say that a week in Annaghmakerrig is worth three weeks at home in terms of getting the work done and drilling down into the work in hand. It gives them the time and space to finish the work that can then be presented at the various festivals, galleries and exhibition centres around Ireland.

Since we opened in 1981, the centre has supported approximately 7,000 artists. We are open 24-7, 50 weeks of the year to support artists to get on with the work, get the book finished, get the play finished and get the exhibition ready and so on, so that in turn can be presented at venues throughout the island of Ireland. We have a very strong link with Belfast. As mentioned by the Chairman, Mr. Moynes, the board comprises four directors from the North and five from the South. It was a joint cross-Border initiative when Sir Tyrone Guthrie handed the house over to the State and we have maintained that strong link to date. We are very proud of that connection.

Currently, we are booked out. I am preparing a planning application to build two more cottages. We have a capital programme funded by the Department, which is just about to expire. We also receive support from the Ulster Guard and Villages Fund, which normally supports projects in the North but because Monaghan is part of Ulster it is happy enough to support us and to give us a grant of £150,000, which helped with the matched funding to make improvements to our dance studio and to build a new rehearsal space that we are providing for the theatre sector, which is increasingly taking time with us to develop new work. What do we want for the future? It is important that artists are supported. At the end of the day, they are the people who make the work and exhibitions. Without them, all we will have are theatres full of empty seats and the only items hanging in our galleries will be caretakers' coats. The Government needs to recognise that the individual practitioner, supported by the festivals gathered here today, are the ones that make the work. Without them, we have nothing.